School!

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I just finished my first week of school, and it is quite different from the states. Instead of the kids going from class to class, the teachers switch rooms. Each class stays the same throughout the years, so the kids stay with each other every year, and teachers also teach at multiple schools. I am teaching 10-12 year olds at two different schools, and they are quite precocious.

I have 20 different classes throughout the week, so my first days have been introducing myself and answering questions. Some popular ones are if I like Justin Bieber, if I prefer the mountains or the sea, and if I like kebab. The kids are good at asking questions in English, but most don't understand me when I answer. All of the teachers I work with are very nice, and havent put any pressure on me to come up with lessons yet.

Yesterday I met up with a fe of the people in my program. We went to a Monet exhibit at one of the are museums, the GAM. It was very fun seeing some of Monet's paintings and learning more about him! We also went to Valentina Park, where there is a small medieval castle that shows what it was like to live in that time period. At around 3:30 we tried to grab lunch, but in Italy almost all restaurants close after lunch and don't serve dinner until 7:30, that's going to be hard to get used to. We were able to go to somewhere for apperitivo and that was our dinner.

Afterwards some of us parted ways and the rest went to watch the futball match. It was juventas,one of torino's teams, and naples. It toke us an hour to find a bar that wasn't packed. Italians take their futball very seriously. Juventas won, and everyone cheered! It was a very fun day for me.

Today I went with my host family and my friend Mercedes and her mom to the town of Chivasso for their Carnival party. It was a parade with many floats and people dressed up in costumes and lots of confetti throwing! I think I will be finding confetti on me for the next week. I am so happy that I can check going to Carnival off of my bucket list! I am looking forward to starting my first full week of school, and being able to come up with lessons to teach the kids in the coming weeks.

Ciao for now!

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